"The Future is in Your Hands"
State Wildlife Strategies - One Year Out Conference
Nebraska City, Nebraska
Closing Remarks by Jeffrey Koenings, Ph.D., WDFW Director
August 4, 2004

Good Morning, I am Dr. Jeff Koenings and I have the pleasure of being the Director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The first thing I would like to say is that the future of the conservation strategy is in your hands. And from what I have seen and heard over the last few days, they are in damn good hands and hence I am excited about the future.

I also come here wearing several different hats in addition to my day job, as a Director of a state agency dedicated, like you, to completing my state's part of the Comprehensive State Wildlife Strategies. I say my part because without all you being successful my agency, my state and its wildlife won't be successful. And I cannot afford to let that happen.

So I have invested my time in the hope of helping this process be successful. The other hats include being a permanent member of the executive committee of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (working with Naomi, Dave and others), a member of NAAT team representing the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, and last year as President of the Western.

I believe it is time and energy well spent (besides I have a great state team working hard to see that I get it right). I have the 3 leaders of that team here with me as well. That is a heavy investment of state resources, especially when budgets are so tight, but the results will be worth every penny. Why this investment? Because, ultimately, the state agency is the responsible party that will be held accountable for its strategy. And I don't fear accountability because as regulatory bodies we are used to being held accountable for our actions. It is, however, a unique role, a role to be shared with, but not abdicated to others.

Not long ago when I was a young boy growing up in Wisconsin, I spent a lot of time on dairy farms, and my vision rarely extended beyond the back end of a cow. I was smaller then, but as I grew taller I learned to look over the backs of the individual cows to see where the herd was going. Believe me it got a lot more interesting as I grew up, and it's the first time I ran into "the bigger picture view" or the "the vision thing".

This is a visionary effort, we collectively are trying to construct a new comprehensive vision for the future of conservation in our states. Make no mistake, this is uncharted territory, so there is no blueprint, no prescription, no off the shelf recipe, no one size fits all. Each state may learn facets of its strategy from the others, but each state is unique in its needs and I expect this uniqueness will be reflected in your strategy. And that's OK. Simply put, this is your product, your vision.

I say from that from my experience of working in both fish and wildlife research and management as well as policy development in the states of Alaska and Washington. There are some differences. Alaska is the biggest of the western states and Washington is the smallest. Alaska has two seasons winter and non-winter while Washington has summer and non-summer. Alaska has few people compared to Washington, and hence Washington's wildlife habitats are more compromised than Alaska's. Washington has the distinction of being endangered species rich and Alaska endangered species poor. I admit it's digging pretty deep, but I can finally claim we beat Alaska at something!

I could go on about differences in land ownership public vs. private, the involvement of tribal nations in management, subsistence etc., but the point is that these and a multitude of other unique differences cannot be expected to fit into a one-size fits all mold. But I do believe that both states will complete a strategy that fits each state's individual needs to deal with the species of greatest conservation need.

And that's why you all are here representing each state and territory eligible for SWG. It must be important because 47 out of the 56 eligible parties are here (despite the trial by fire imposed by the airlines). We also have several NGOs here as partners in our efforts, the federal agencies are also here as are a majority of the NAAT team. In addition, I certainly have experienced a lot of enthusiasm for the task at hand from a group of very talented individuals. You have to be good because you are pushing the envelope, biologically, socially and economically. No one has ever done anything like this before and you are writing this story while it is unfolding.

Other agencies or organizations have tried writing wildlife conservation plans at a statewide scale, and some of them have done some innovative things - but the reality is that none of these prior efforts match what the state wildlife strategies are doing, and what, I might add, each of you have sworn to deliver next year. And I have your names and where you live. And you thought those sign up sheets were for where information was to be sent. Too bad, it's a done deal.

I have to admit that the writing of yet another conservation strategy at first reminded me of a second marriage. Why so you might ask? Because when successful, it will be a triumph of hope over history. The core of our efforts have to be focused toward the promise of non-game wildlife conservation: for decades conservationists inside and outside of state fish and wildlife agencies have been working to expand the agencies' capacity to conserve and manage all wildlife beyond just the handful of species that are hunted or fished.

In Washington, this is more than the ethic of conserving our state's biodiversity. Recently, we have been very successful at convincing a skeptical legislature on the economic benefits of sustainable fish and wildlife management. For example, watchable wildlife related spending is almost $1 billion annually with spending on hunting and recreational fishing adding a little over $1 billion for an annual spending level of $2.2 billion. Most of that spending occurs in rural areas where the habitat is intact and wildlife related spending is a major cash flow. So helping conserve non-game wildlife has become an investment opportunity for rural legislators - many of which have seniority in legislative committees.

For this and other reasons, there are a lot of people and/or organizations watching this program - some of them expect that only a few states will succeed. Then there are those who really don't think that state fish and wildlife agencies can do this kind of strategic conservation, and still others who would look to have some kind of strategy implementation oversight role. I think they are wrong as we want them as full-time partners in the process, not part-time critics of the products.

But I know that this entire effort may fail if we leave anyone behind - a few good plans will not be success. Those of us who work wildlife conservation - and especially state agencies - know that our own success depends on the success of our neighbors, partners, and sometimes people considerably distant from us. Yes, Washington needs Alaska to success and Ellen will make that happen, but Montana needs Florida and Louisiana needs Illinois just as California needs Guam. We will succeed as a group, and in doing so we will change the face of wildlife conservation in North America.

Finally, I believe from my working Congress that the carrot is there - real money and real action will follow the strategies. But as a state Director I just can't give up the stick (I think it is a pacifier kind of thing). Regardless, the clock is ticking, and accordingly Rocky briefed Directors at the recently completed Western Association meeting and the NAAT will continue to meet, in fact, at the International meeting in September. I know there are issues to be resolved - examples being the cost estimates of the strategies and the roll up on the individual strategies into a package, but I believe this meeting settled a lot of outstanding questions that now allows the states to move forward with renewed vigor.

This has been an excellent meeting and I would like to thank the Nebraska Game and Parks for their hospitality as well as the moderators of the breakout sessions, and certainly the presenters of approaches states are taking on meeting the eight elements provided by the NAAT.

Thank you and remember nothing breeds success like success! And by coming together like this we will be successful.

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